It feels in this interesting and beautiful part of France that whatever weekend I'd rocked up there'd be something engaging going on. Today Veronica and I went to Peyriac-de-Mer's biennial art exhibition, where artists open their houses or workshops for visitors to see what they've been up to. A couple of sculptors worked in local wood - I found the sculptures made of olive roots especially intriguing - and both said they had to find the forms that were already in the wood and enable them to emerge. I was also very taken by some textile 'collages' in an exquisite airy house with painted beams. The house-snooping is, in some cases, more interesting than the art: clever design in one tiny room had somehow conjured a kitchen in what was once a fireplace and still left space for a baby grand piano by the front door. The village itself is also a delight to walk round, with narrow winding streets opening onto treed squares. This building is at the edge of the lagoon - a contemporary house which somehow complements the much older buildings.

Driving back past vines with the hills in the background, we passed an outing of open-topped vintage cars whose occupants were making the most of the sun and warmth.

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